Walker Sands Released Third Annual Future of Retail Report

The Future of Retail Report by Walker Sands, shares understanding about current aspects of retail for consumers including the importance of the supply chain. Some of their findings include:

Over 30 percent of consumers now make at least one purchase a week online – up over 42 percent from two years ago;

Many believe drone deliveries will happen in the next two-five years; One of the major factors for consumers is the supply chain, including delivery options, returns, logistics, and inventory information. Retailers seem to understand this as last year they invested 29 percent of capital in these features.

New Financial Communications Firm – Vested – Hires Hod Klein

Hod Klein, former Director at Dukas Linden Public Relations, has just signed on with the recently formed Vested, a communications agency dealing with investor relations and financial services PR. At Dukas, Klein oversaw the agency’s exchange-traded funds (ETF) practice, which totaled more than $4 billion in client assets. He’s also had extensive experience with media advising major financial institutions – hedge funds, mutual funds, broker-dealers, ETF providers, and private equity firms – as well as work in the financial services industry. Vested’s clients include Citadel, Contix, Money/Lion, Axioma, Bloomberg, Betterment, Golub Capital, and Polaris.

Carrie Byalick Opens New Talent PR Agency

Carrie Byalick left ID PR to open a talent management firm, called “B.” After nearly 18 years at ID, she’s gained a lot of experience representing such talent as Billy Eichner, Amy Schumer, and Stephen Colbert. Her first confirmed client for management services is America Ferrera, though the actress will continue with ID for publicity. “B” will be based out of New York.

Byalick said, “I have benefited from the extraordinarily collaborative energy at ID, led by my mentor Kelly Bush Novak. This is a move I’ve thought about for a long while, and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to take this leap with so much support.”

Jeremy Corbyn has been battling against BREXIT in the U.K., and as such pits him against the establishment currently. Mainstream media doesn’t generally bother reporting political hecklers, who they are, or what they have to say, but this was different. Tom Mauchline, a PR professional working at Portland Communications, was in attendance at a Gay Pride event recently, and when Corbyn was speaking, Mauchline repeatedly yelled, “It’s your fault.” He also told Corbyn he should resign because he couldn’t get the voters out in the Midlands and Wales.

Mauchline told Corbyn he should not be using the Gay Pride movement to drum up support. However, Mauchline’s 38 Degrees petition for a no-confidence motion against Corbyn got all of 65 signatures during his 10 hours at the rally while one supporting Corbyn received 120K signatures.

Portland is headquartered in London but has four other offices, two in the U.S. Much of the work they do centers around public affairs, lobbying, and non-profit representation for support. As they say, they are “trusted by some of the highest profile organizations, governments, and individuals in the world.”

Freud Communications and the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann

Matthew Freud, owner of independent firm, Freud Communications, and son of MP, Sir Clement Freud (deceased since 2009), who was recently exposed as a pedophile has a few connections to the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann. When the little girl went missing, it was near a vacation villa in Praia da Luz, Portugal, owned by the senior Freud, and the McCann family had enjoyed dinner at that same villa with Sir Clement on at least one occasion not long before she went missing. Sir Clement’s tendencies were exposed in a recent documentary airing interviews with at least three women who say they were victims of him while minors.

In an interesting twist, there is another connection. Clarence Mitchell, the McCann’s spokesman throughout their ordeal, was also once on the Freud Communications payroll only one year after Madeleine went missing. Mitchell has worked with various PR agencies while also representing the McCanns, and recently became a director at JBP.

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